A Complete Guide to Breast Cancer Screening

Breast self-exam

Formal breast self-exams are optional, but since 80% of cancers not spotted on mammography are found by women themselves, experts do endorse being familiar with your breasts. That just means regularly feeling them when you're bathing or getting dressed.

"Most of the time, women don't find tumors during a self-exam, but when they roll over in bed or soap up in the shower," says breast surgeon Susan Love, MD, medical director of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. If you feel something odd, call your doc.